Finding Moony
by LornaTheLoop
Summary: Sirius has escaped from Azkaban to find and kill Peter Pettigrew. That is the simplest reason, but the more complicated one fills his head night and day. The other reason, where is the brown haired man? Where is the man he loves? He has to find Moony. SBRL
1. The Missing Man

It was almost totally pitch black, the clouds had blocked the stars and the moon from view, but the big black dog could still see.

He padded silently down the eerily silent street, the icy cold so deep that it penetrated his thick fur and sent shivers down his back. He could tell dementors had been here.

The dog reached a shabby block of apartments. There were a few smashed windows and pieces of rubbish were littered over the small lawn, which was over-grown with weeds almost obscuring the path that lead to the door.

Gazing around at the once familiar place, Padfoot squeezed himself through the slightly ajar door and started climbing up the concrete stairs.

Once he had reached a certain door, he paused.

He couldn't go in. Surely the man who lived here would be angry. Not just angry, he would hate the dog.

But the black dog needed to explain.

After what seemed like an eternity, however he scratched the door and whined.

There was no answer.

He repeated his attack on the door, but the inside of the apartment was still and silent. Casting a quick glance around the deserted hallway the dog transformed into a tall, dark haired man.

The man quickly ran his hands along the top of the door frame, searching for the spare key the other man kept there. He found it and unlocked the door. He paused for a second before pushing it open slowly.

The door creaked as the dark haired man entered, he looked around at the apartment he used to live in.

It was tidy; it had never been tidy when he lived here. It wasn't just tidy though, it was almost empty.

The small book case the other man had insisted on getting was nearly empty, except for a few muggle novels and some pieces of parchment. The black haired man went through to the tiny kitchen. The cupboards were almost bare, except for a few out of date tins and exotic spices that had never been touched.

He moved to the bedroom. The bed had been stripped, the sheets and duvet folded on the foot of it. All the drawers were empty.

Even the bathroom had been cleared of its' contents. No shampoo and no towels.

Something was very odd. What had happened to the other man? Where is he?

Sirius walked back into the living room and stopped in front of the bookcase. He shifted a few of the bits of parchment. Only one caught his eye, however.

It was a copy of the newspaper; The Daily Prophet. He picked it up and saw his own face staring back at him, the headline reading "Black still at large."

Sirius read the article, but threw the paper on the floor when he saw the final line "The magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse."

The black haired man just managed to refrain from shouting. Instead he fell to his knees, running his hands through his long, matted hair. He didn't want to sit here; he wanted to run screaming through the streets. He wanted to tell the world how it hadn't been him. He wanted to tell Harry how he didn't betray his parents. He wanted to tell the brown haired man how he still loved him.

Sirius left the apartment, locked the door, but pocketed the key. He transformed into Padfoot and ran back down the stairs.

The days it took seemed to all roll into one, but soon he was in Hogsmeade, a town right beside Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The black dog curled up on an old, mouldy bed in The Shrieking Shack. A house built for the brown haired man, many years ago.

After several hours of trying to sleep however, the dog gave up and transformed back into the man, Sirius. He sat pulled out of his tattered, old robes a newspaper clipping.

It was a picture of a family, he couldn't remember the name of them now, but they were all smiling at the camera enthusiastically having won some gold and going on holiday to Egypt. There was one tall boy, with his arm around a younger looking girl; he had a rat perched on his shoulder. That rat was who he was after. He needed that rat. He needed to kill that rat.

He was so close. So close, yet so far.

* * *

I'm just going to apologise for this awful fic. I'm going to continue it, I think it's going to get better though, so review!


	2. Dreams and Progress

Their lips crashed together and for the first time in his life, Sirius was in heaven. He moved his hands up into the dishevelled bronze hair of his partner as he felt said partner's hands on his back. He pulled the brown haired man closer, deepening the embrace. He felt the other man moan into his mouth.

Then the black haired man was pushed roughly to the ground by his partner, his lover. The brown haired man looked down upon Sirius was disgust and hatred on his handsome face.

"You killed them." He spat.

"No, I swear…" Sirius tried to explain, but he was cut off.

"You betrayed Lily and James and killed Peter!" the werewolf shrieked, looking terrifyingly mad.

"No! Peter is alive!"

"Don't lie to me Black!" The brown haired mad screamed, grabbing the front of Sirius' robes and pointing his wand at the man's face.

"Please, listen!" Sirius tried to plead, as the other man raised his wand. "No, please! No!"

Sirius woke with a start, still yelling at the empty shack he was staying in. As his racing heartbeat began to slow, he raised his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes blearily.

It had been a dream.

All a dream.

But, still. It had seemed so real. In a way, it still did. It seemed so real because surely the man hated him. Surely he'd never want to see Sirius again. He might even want to hurt him.

The black haired man shook his head and opened his eyes again. Not wanting to think of the prospect of being hated by someone he loved for something that he didn't do.

Something he didn't do. He was innocent of the crime. Sirius stood up and began pacing the broken, old shack. He never did anything to hurt James or Lily.

However, he had in fact intended to kill Pettigrew.

It was Pettigrew who got them into this mess. Pettigrew that had betrayed James and Lily and it was Pettigrew that had blown half a muggle street up; killing twelve muggles and severing is own finger. Then he ran away, to the sewers to live amongst the other vermin and Sirius was left to take the blame.

The black haired man kicked the old bed in frustration and anger. It didn't help his situation; however, it felt as if he might have broken his toe.

Swearing, he hopped back to sit on the bed.

Suddenly, he heard a shrill mew, so quiet he almost didn't catch it.

He stood up; eyes fixed on where he thought the sound had come from, the door.

Making a split second decision, he transformed into the big black dog.

Padfoot sniffed the air; he could smell an animal just beyond the door. As far as he could tell, it was no threat to him.

He jumped slightly as a rather large, ginger cat with a squashed looking face came squeezed through the door of the room.

The black dog stayed still, looking at the cat as the latter did the same. The cat looked him up and down before taken a tentative step forwards. Still, Padfoot stayed immobile. He didn't want to scare this cat. There was something different about it.

The cat stayed where it was for what seemed like an eternity. He didn't seem to trust Padfoot. Almost as if the cat knew that Padfoot wasn't really a dog.

Then, with no warning, the cat turned round. With its' bottle brush tail in the air, it sprinted out the door.

It took Sirius a couple of moments to realise what had happened. He transformed back into his human form and sat on the bed, thinking about the strange cat.

The next day the cat returned, it returned two more times after that and soon it Padfoot had gained its' trust.

Padfoot learned that this cat is extremely intelligent. It could sense that there was something a little bit human about the dog and it told him of another creature that had this slightly human quality. Sirius pressed upon this piece of information and found that the cat, Crookshanks belonged to a Gryffindor third year and he friend was the boy who owned the rat. And this rat was the creature Crookshanks had mentioned. It was also Peter Pettigrew.

Padfoot had to stop himself from barking loudly with excitement at now having an ally inside the castle.

When the cat left he hatched a plan. He needed to do it. He needed to break into Gryffindor Tower.


	3. Unexpected

He had it all planned out.

He could remember the way to Gryffindor Tower like the back of his hands. His Hogwarts days may seem as distant as past dreams, but he would never forget the happiness and wonder the castle brought.

Now however, he felt dread.

So much could go wrong here. He could get in and find Dumbledore there. That would not go well. Or the other teachers. If any were alerted to the fact that mass murderer Sirius Black was found in the castle, he couldn't take on all the teachers.

He did know that, as far as he could tell, there were no dementors inside the school grounds. With any luck, all the pupils would have already returned to their dormitories. He would be able to sneak up to the dormitory he needed. He wouldn't have to worry about five or six teenage boys, all of whom were probably fast asleep in their beds.

Sirius paced the Shrieking Shack until the sun went down and the Scottish countryside was swallowed by the autumn night. He then transformed into Padfoot and trotted down through the tunnel, into the grounds.

Dodging carefully though the flailing branches of the Whomping Willow, he made his way to the door of the castle. Through the doors to the Great Hall, he heard the unmistakeable noise of a feast.

The large black dog edged closer to the slightly ajar doors. He glimpsed a flurry of bats and hundreds of candle lit pumpkins, before he continued his journey to Gryffindor Tower. So, it was Halloween. Padfoot amused himself for a second, remembering Halloween feasts during his time at Hogwarts. They had all ended in some huge prank in the Great Hall after the feast. They always had detentions all through November for them, but it was worth it.

As he headed up through a secret passage with a trick step half-way up, he heard a wheezy voice and some shuffling footsteps.

"That Peeves!" the voice yelled "Don't worry, my sweet, I'll tell Dumbledore, he'll have to have him out for this!"

Padfoot jumped slightly as the care-taker Argus Filch stormed through the tapestry at the top of the stairs. He had the same long hair, however it was thinner and greyer than it had been, and he was wearing the same old brown coat he had when Sirius had been at the school.

The black dog froze; he knew that Filch would catch him out here. He had nowhere to run, he would surely be kicked out of the castle; dogs weren't allowed in.

As Filch turned his head to face down the stairs, not noticing the dog in the darkness, Padfoot began to slowly climb. He had to be silent; he didn't want Filch to notice him.

Luckily, Filch seemed to be annoyed about something the poltergeist had done, and wasn't paying attention to what was happening around him. Resulting in the wheezy man to forget about the trick step, his leg sunk into it and held him there. He would be unable to get out without assistance. Sirius had a hug desire that his best friend, James had been here to see this. Padfoot stopped himself from barking in pleasure at this amusing scene, Filch with his leg painfully caught as he flailed his arms and yelled for help.

Padfoot exited the corridor and carried on to Gryffindor Tower.

He managed to dodge Peeves, who had cackled loudly at the dog and tried to command him to "leave a present" for Filch on the carpet. Padfoot gave an audible growl, and Peeves zoomed off in the direction of Filch's shouts.

As he reached the portrait of the fat lady he transformed into a man.

"Password?" The fat lady asked curtly, not looking at him properly.

"Just let me in." Sirius hissed.

"No one gets in without the password." The fat lady replied, calmly.

"I NEED TO GET IN!" Sirius yelled; his patience very limited.

The fat lady jumped, and finally looked at him, she gasped.

"S-Sirius Black!" She muttered, looking frightened. Good, perhaps now she'll be too scared to deny him entry. "No. No, you can't get in. I won't let you in. No password, no entry."

Even through his anger, he had a new found respect for the fat lady; he had never known she was so brave.

However, this did not stop him from reaching into his robes and bringing out his knife. He slashed the portrait, as the fat lady screamed and ran from it.

He had done it now. Soon everyone would know he was in the castle. Sirius transformed back into Padfoot and sprinted from the scene, which was already beginning to attract attention.

He sprinted down the hidden corridor; Filch had disappeared now, and flew through the tapestry. As he neared the Oak Front doors, however, he saw something that made his heart stop.

The brown-haired man was running towards the commotion. His brown hair was greying and his face was more lined and scarred, but he was still the most beautiful man in the world in Sirius' eyes.

After a very long second, Padfoot turned from the scene, which the other man had already left. It took all of Sirius' strength to run back to the Shrieking Shack after this. Once he did get back, he collapsed in a heap of misery on the old bed.

But, at least now he knew that the brown-haired man was safe.

* * *

If you've already read this and realised that two chapters have been swapped around, that was my fault, I put them up in the wrong order... sorry!


	4. Knives and Quidditch

Padfoot awoke on a horrible, stormy day. The sky was obscured by clouds and torrential rain, but Crookshanks had told him that there was a Quidditch match today, and Sirius was determined to see it.

He wanted to see Harry, his godson, fly. Harry's father, Sirius' best friend, had been a great Quidditch player and he wanted to see if Harry had his talent as well as his looks.

So the black dog set out to the match in the pouring rain. It was still early, but he didn't want to chance being seen. As he dodged the branches of the Whomping Willow, he noticed that there was a girl sitting in a tree by the lake.

Curious, he ran forward. The girl was short, but had long, brown hair. She was swinging her legs and seemed oblivious to the bucketing rain. As Padfoot stood, watching her, totally bewildered, she slipped and fell from her tree.

Her bag landed just beside her and several dangerous weapons fell from it. Vaguely noting that this girl was totally insane, he bounded towards her to steal a rather handy knife.

"HEY!" The girl shouted over the howling wind, "THAT'S MY KNIFE YOU SHITTER!"

The girl started to tear after the black dog, she was looking particularly frightening in sopping wet robes, screaming her head off that a dog just stole her weapon.

Sirius ran to the side of the Quidditch pitch as two identical red haired boys came sprinting up to the crazy girl.

"Jess," One of them said, panting slightly, "What the hell are you doing?"

"That hairy mutt took my knife!" Jess yelled.

"What?" the second boy asked.

"A dog stole my knife!" She repeated, "Just ran up to me after I fell out of my tree and the little shitter took it!"

"Just come on Jess, the match is starting soon." The first boy said, rolling his eyes at the second.

"But my knife!" Jess whined. The two boys grabbed her by the arms and dragged her to the changing rooms.

"Thanks for the knife, Jess." Sirius thought as he took a seat at the back of the stands.

* * *

It seemed that Harry was indeed an amazing Quidditch player. He was a seeker, unlike his father who was a chaser, but he flew very well.

But towards the very end, however, there was a flash of lightning and Padfoot was sure that Harry had looked right at him. At that point a dozen dementors entered the pitch, Sirius fled, but he still managed to see Harry fall.

He stood, transfixed as he watched Harry fly through the air. It was almost as if it was in slow motion.

He almost screamed as he thought Harry was going to fall to his death.

But, right at the last minute, Dumbledore saved him. A wave of relief washed over Sirius as he ran.

He still had a guilty feeling that he had distracted Harry and caused him to fall.

As he slipped beneath the Whomping Willow he heard a huge crack, he looked behind him and saw what looked like the handle of a Nimbus 2000 fall to the ground.

Okay, this was just a nice, short chapter. But uploaded the same night as a long one, so you can't complain :P

* * *

Jess belongs to my friend, Jess'n'Forge She is the main character of the hilarious "Did I tell you my best friend's a Weasley?" You should check it out, it's very funny. I borrowed her for a bit of comedy. Plus, this chapter would be about a paragraph without her XD


	5. He Missed Doing The Crosswords

Sirius couldn't get the image of the brown haired man out of his head. His stomach did little flips whenever he thought of him. He only caught a glimpse of him, but he did manage to note the grey hairs and the more lined and stressed face. Although, he must be enjoying teaching.

Sirius smiled slightly as he remembered the way the other man used to tutor him, James and Peter. James would continually be looking at Lily Evans, the smart, pretty girl he loved. Peter would be biting his lip, concentrating as hard as he could on what the brown haired man was saying. Sirius would just be staring at the gorgeous man.

But the black haired man also remembered about Harry. He felt bad, he knew that Harry's broom had been destroyed by the Whomping Willow.

Sirius had been thinking about getting him a new one. He wasn't sure how he would do it; he would need Crookshanks to take the order to the Owl Office. Sirius was worried that the goblins might realise that vault seven hundred and eleven was not Harry's vault.

However, trying couldn't hurt, could it?

They won't be able to tell where the order had come from.

The next time Crookshanks came, Sirius told him to steal him some parchment and a quill.

Once Crookshanks had returned with what he needed, he began to write.

_Quality Quidditch Supplies- Order._

_I wish to order a Firebolt. Please send it to Harry Potter, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts. _

_Gringotts vault seven hundred and eleven._

_Thank you, Harry Potter._

Sirius had to use Harry's name as he was on the run. He had found it strange, writing again. He hadn't written anything for twelve years, except from vague scribbling on the walls of his cell in Azkaban. Sirius liked writing this letter. It made him feel almost normal for a moment, as if he had never been sent to Azkaban, as if he was just writing a letter to order a new broom from his comfortable home.

However, it didn't take him long to finish the letter. Too soon, he was pulled from his fantasy and found himself in the shack, a fugitive, on the run.

He solemnly gave Crookshanks the letter and instructions to take it to the owl office.

Sirius decided to go for a short walk into Hogsmeade, perhaps pick up something to eat or a newspaper.

He transformed into Padfoot, ran out of the shack and was greeted by the pleasant surprise of cold, white snow falling thick and fast to the ground. He amused himself for a moment by snapping his jaw at the soft flakes, before running off into the blizzard.

The black dog ran into Hogsmeade. There were a few Hogwarts pupils scurrying from shop to shop, not wanting to stay out in the freezing cold for too long.

Padfoot noticed a group of first year girls exiting Honeydukes, heading towards the Three Broomsticks. He ran past them and barked softly, two of them jumped. They accidently dropped a bag of sweets they had bought. The girls grumbled about wasted money, but hurried off get inside again. Sirius picked up the discarded sweets triumphantly and bounded over to a bin to retrieve a Daily Prophet, to keep up to date with the Wizarding World. Plus, he missed doing the crosswords.

Back at the Shrieking Shack, Sirius tucked into the bag of sweets he had sneakily stole from the first year girls. He flicked vaguely through the old copy of the Daily Prophet, but found nothing of interest. He lay back on the rotting bed and shivered as a cold breeze filled the shack.

There was a light dusting of snow on the floor; this place was hardly weather proof. Sirius wished he had Crookshanks with him, just a little company on this freezing cold winter's night.

He found a packet of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans in the bag of sweets. He smirked before closing his eyes and picking one at random, a game he and his friends used to play at Hogwarts. He chewed on the bean for a moment before swallowing it. His eye's widened as he let out a noise of disgust and spat on the floor to rid his mouth of the foul taste.

Of course the first time he had a bean in twelve years it would be vomit.

He remembered eating such a bean on his birthday one year at Hogwarts. Then he had been able to wash it down with a few glasses of Firewhiskey. Sirius remembered that night so well. It had been the happiest night of his life. James had thrown him a surprise party in the common room, he had smuggled sweets and alcohol in from Hogsmeade. Even the brown haired man had had a drink or two.

But the thing that set this night apart from all his other birthdays was in the early hours of the morning, after the party was over and he was heading to bed.

* * *

"Sirius?" The brown haired man said, grinning at his friend. "How many drinks have you had?"

"A-a few too many." Sirius confessed as he stumbled into the dormitory and sat beside the other man on his bed.

The other man laughed. Sirius looked at him, noticing how his scars seemed less prominent when he smiled.

"What?" he asked, looking at Sirius and frowning.

"Nothing." Sirius sighed.

"No, tell me Padfoot." He demanded.

"I-I can't." Sirius muttered.

"You know you can tell me anything, we're best mates." The brown haired man said, concerned.

"Exactly, best mates!" Sirius exclaimed, jumping up. "You think of me as a friend!"

The other man just stared at him, his mouth hanging open in complete surprise. Sirius looked at him.

"Don't hate me." He whispered, "But, I think I love you, Moony."

Sirius jerked awake in the bitter cold Shrieking Shack. He looked out the window towards the massive castle and heaved a great sigh that turned into a choked sob.

* * *

Sorry about the wait guys, I started school again and I just haven't had the time. Plus, I found this chapter hard to write. Forgive me! I will try to do better! Reviews are very much appreciated!


	6. Murderous Passion

After that last dream, Sirius' desire to get back to Remus had grown, if possible, even stronger. He knew that if he managed to find Pettigrew, he'd be able to get Moony back. Although, he knew that since his last disastrous attempt at getting into the Gryffindor Common Room the security on the castle would have been increased. It may still be easy enough to sneak back up to the portrait hole, but how would he get through without the password?

Crookshanks had been trying to get the rat for him, but he kept escaping. Sirius knew just how good Pettigrew was at escaping.

Sirius had hardly strayed from the shack since before Christmas, he estimated that it was now sometime in February. He felt a knot in his stomach, his time was running short. He would need to try and break into the castle again soon.

As he paced the Shrieking Shack, thinking desperately about how he was going to get past the Fat Lady, Crookshanks padded lightly in, a piece of parchment clamped in his jaw.

Sirius stooped down, and stroked the soft, ginger cat. He took the piece of parchment from its' mouth and looked at it.

At first, Sirius stared at it in utter confusion. On the parchment were nine nonsense words (one of which was "Oddsbodikins") written in a scribbly, almost child-like style. Although, it did make sense when he flipped the parchment over and saw scribbled on the back in the same writing, "Common Room passwords."

Sirius' eyes widened in and he supressed the urge to leap in the air.

He now set about planning when best to penetrate the castle. He thought it would be best to go in the early hours of the morning, as it was too risky walking through the corridors when pupils could still be milling around. True, Filch and other teachers may be lurking about the castle, but it would be a lot easier to get past one or two people than huge crowds.

That afternoon Sirius sat in the Shrieking Shack, listening to the distant roar of a crowd in the Hogwarts grounds. It seemed there was a Quidditch match on. He heard odd snippets of the commentary, words like "Gryffindor" and "Firebolt." Sirius also caught Professor McGonagall yelling something about advertising Firebolts. He smiled as he remembered when McGonagall used to yell at him and James in the exact same way.

Long after the Quidditch noises had died down and he was sure that all pupils in the castle would be asleep; he turned into Padfoot and ran through the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. He had to change back into himself to prise open the doors with the knife he cleverly stole from the crazy girl, but he transformed again immediately.

He padded along several deserted corridors and was almost at the common room when he saw someone. Professor McGonagall was walking back in her tartan dressing gown, identical to the one she had worn when Sirius had been at school; she stopped and looked around as Sirius slipped past her into an empty classroom.

She came into the classroom after him; the moon was shining in through the window and cast a greyish light on the scene. McGonagall lit her wand and raised it above her head, searching the ground. Sirius held his breath, if she walked just a few steps forward the wand light would fall on him, and he'd be caught. McGonagall took a step closer, eyes still roaming around the small space.

"Professor!" called the wheezy voice that belonged to Filch; he was followed shortly by a Hufflepuff boy, a sixth or seventh year by the looks of him. "I caught him roaming the corridors."

"Again Isherwood?" McGonagall snapped. "That's the third time this term, what do you think you're playing at?"

Isherwood looked back at McGonagall, not saying anything.

"I've had enough, two weeks' worth of detentions and fifty points from Hufflepuff!" McGonagall shrieked. "Now, get to bed."

The boy sulked off and McGonagall and Filch followed.

Sirius breathed again. That had been far too close.

He continued on his way to the Gryffindor Common room. He was surprised to see not the Fat Lady, but a Knight with a fat little pony at the entrance.

Sirius transformed into himself and pulled the tiny piece of parchment out of his robes. He approached the portrait of The Knight who attempted to get off his horse, but fell right on his head. Sirius supressed a laugh. The Knight stood up, straightening his helmet and drew his sword.

"Stop right there, Sir!" The Knight said. "To reach the chambers beyond I need to hear the password!"

Sirius recited the passwords from the paper, on the fifth one down The Knight jumped up.

"Correct!" he exclaimed, and swung forward to let him in.

Sirius scrambled through the portrait hole, and stood for a minute in the Common Room.

It looked exactly as it did when he had been at school. The only sound was the crackling and spitting of the dying fire. It sent its' feeble orange light across the room, but it wasn't enough to be able to see very far.

Sirius walked slowly over to the stairs that lead to the boys' dormitory. He hesitated, listening, realising he would be running right into a trap if the alarm was raised, he would have to be very quick to get out again. However, he had got this far and bearing that in mind, he climbed up the stairs.

He reached the door marked "Third Year" and noticed it was the same dorm he, James, Remus and Peter had shared during their time at Hogwarts.

Sirius entered and squinted in the darkness, the only light source being the moon which was visible through the window. He looked over to where James used to sleep and through a slight crack in the curtains a head of black hair lying on the pillow, it was Harry. Sirius looked to the bed next to it, where he used sleep and saw that it was the red-haired boy's.

Sirius approached it cautiously and tore down the curtain. He raised his knife above the boy's head, looking for the rat, when the boy awoke. They looked at each other for a second, the time it took for each to realise the danger they were now in, and then the boy screamed.

Sirius raced out of the dormitory as he heard people waking up in the other dormitories. He transformed into Padfoot and sprinted out of the portrait hole, he looked back before it closed and saw Harry and several others running down the stairs into the Common Room, before the portrait hole swung shut.

He passed Professor McGonagall who was running in the opposite direction, looking furious, so furious she didn't notice him dashing past.

As he was running down another corridor, he saw someone walking calmly to the scene of chaos that was the Gryffindor Tower. Sirius froze as he recognised the face, the scars, it was Remus.

Remus glanced down and, even in the almost complete darkness, something in his face made Sirius sure he had spotted him. Remus had stopped too, his eyes wide and looked back to where the dog had been moments ago, but he was gone. Remus shook his head and continued walking.

Sirius darted out of the oak front doors and down through the tunnel.

He reached the Shrieking Shack and sat down, waiting for the misery that usually followed seeing or remembering Remus. It didn't come. All he felt was anger. A terrible, burning, murderous passion. He needed to kill Pettigrew. He was one that caused all this.


	7. The Truth Comes Out At Last

Time was moving faster than usual. Much too fast, Sirius thought as he sat on the same moth-eaten bed, in the same dilapidated shack and in a position he was beginning to fear he would never get out of.

It had been, Sirius estimated, at least three, perhaps four months since he had broken into the castle and he had made no further progress. To be perfectly honest, he had made his situation worse as it would now be totally impossible to enter the castle again.

Not that that really mattered, however, Crookshanks had informed Sirius that the rat had faked his own death again. He had bit himself, to leave spots of blood on the sheets of his owner's bed and then ran away. The red-headed boy was convinced it was Crookshanks that had killed him. Well, now he and Crookshanks were truly in the same boat, they had both been framed for the murder of the same person. Sirius spat on the ground, bitterly.

The sun was setting now and Sirius rose to look out of the window up to the castle towering in the distance.

As though he had lost his mind completely, he transformed into Padfoot and ran down through the passage.

He had no idea what was driving him to do this, all he knew was that he needed to get to the castle. He didn't know why, he didn't know what he would do when he got there; he just needed to be there.

By the time he arrived in the grounds the sun had sunk and it was almost pitch black in the grounds. He ran into the shadow of the great castle, out of the light from its' many windows, and padded along silently.

He stopped when he heard voices. He squinted around in the darkness, but could see no one. He sniffed the air, he could smell four people, he could hear three voices, but he could not see them.

Something small and ginger with bright yellow eyes streaked past him, making him start, Crookshanks. Padfoot backed up as he heard a loud squeak and a rat appeared out of thin air and scurried along the ground. His snarl was cut off as the red-haired boy emerged from nowhere after him, racing to catch Crookshanks and the rat. Then two more figures materialised out of the darkness, a bushy haired girl and, Harry. Trailing behind him was James' old invisibility cloak.

He saw the red-haired boy catch the rat and when the other finally caught up with him, Sirius began to run towards them. Sirius noticed Harry draw his wand and had to change his target at the last minute, and leapt into the air. He landed hard on Harry's chest, harder than he'd intended. He rolled off Harry and looked around for the boy who had the rat. He pushed past Harry, who had just stood up, and aimed for the squirming lump in the boy's pocket, but he moved and Sirius' jaws caught his arm.

Harry grabbed Padfoot's fur, but Sirius was far too strong and pulled the boy away easily. He dragged him towards the centre of the Whomping Willow, right as Harry and the girl were hit by its' flailing branches. He pulled the boy through the gap, but his leg caught on one of the roots of the massive tree. Sirius tugged, trying to free him, but, with a sickening crack, the boy's leg broke.

Sirius dragged the boy along the dark tunnel. He whimpered in pain as Padfoot heaved him over increasingly rough ground, which was starting to slope upwards. He was getting tired now and the taste of the boy's blood from his arm was making him feel queasy.

Finally they reached the Shrieking Shack; Sirius hauled the boy over to the other side of the room and dropped him on the floor next to the bed.

The boy's teeth were gritted in pain, clutching his leg. Sirius transformed back into himself, the boy's eyes widened in shock.

"S-Sirius B-Black!" He spluttered.

"Quiet!" Sirius hissed, listening carefully as he thought he heard something downstairs.

Sirius bent down and picked the boy's wand up off the floor, it must have fallen from his pocket. Suddenly, the door banged open and Harry and the girl rushed in.

Hidden behind the door, he watched them run over to the boy, whose name turned out to be Ron. Once he heard Ron tell them he was an animagus, he shut the door. Harry and the girl whipped around.

"Expelliarmus!" He croaked, their wands flew into the air and Sirius caught them, smoothly. Oh, how he'd missed doing magic! He had to control himself not to grin and start conjuring bubbles and sparks.

_Focus, Padfoot. You have the rat. _

Sirius spoke to Harry, he needed to explain, tell him he was innocent.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend." Wow, now he was in proper company he realised how little he had used his voice, it even hurt a little. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful… it will make everything much easier…"

He saw that he'd made Harry angry, he hadn't meant to, but Harry tried to walk forward. Sirius knew that look; Harry wanted to rip him into shreds. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned James. Fortunately, Ron and the girl held him back. Sirius did not want to have to hurt Harry.

Ron stood up, and spoke nonsense about having to go through them to get to Harry. Not that that would be particularly hard, but that was not what he needed to do. He noticed how Ron went even paler as he stood; his leg was causing him tremendous pain.

"Lie down. You will damage that leg even more." He told Ron.

"Did you hear me?" Ron continued, leaning on Harry for support, "You'll have to kill all three of us!"

"There will only one murder tonight." Ah, murdering Wormtail. What a thought. Sirius grinned.

Harry began to spoke, but Sirius wasn't really listening properly. He was lost in fantasies of blasting Pettigrew into thousands of pieces. Which, was probably why he didn't see Harry lunge towards him, screaming "HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!"

He grabbed Sirius' wrist, pushing the wands away from him and punched him hard in the face. They staggered backwards. Harry was punching Sirius, he had no choice. "No." he breathed "I've waited too long-" he clasped Harry's throat.

Suddenly he felt a hug pain in his shoulder. The girl had kicked him, hard. Then, Ron landed on the hand that held their wands and the three of them fell to the floor.

Harry seized his wand and stood up, pointing it at Sirius. He yelled at Ron and Hermione to move. The girl grabbed her and Ron's wands as Ron fell onto the old bed, holding his broken leg, his face contorted with pain.

Harry's wand was pointing at Sirius' heart as he advanced.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" Sirius murmured.

Sirius's eye was throbbing, painfully and he could feel a trickle of blood falling from his nose.

"You killed my parents." Harry replied; his voice a little higher than was usual, but he held the wand steady.

Sirius looked him in the eye. He needed to explain…

"I don't deny it," he rushed, almost whispering, "But if you knew the whole story-"

"The whole story?" Harry cried, his eyes were wide, as if he was going to cry but had no tears to do so and his bottom lip was shaking. He was certainly no murderer. "You sold them to Voldemort, that's all I need to know!"

"You've got to listen to me," Sirius pressed, starting to panic slightly. What if someone came looking for them? "You'll regret it if you don't… you don't understand…"

Sirius closed his eyes as Harry talked about his mother. It was too painful, far too painful for Sirius to listen to.

Out of nowhere, something landed on his chest. Crookshanks was lying right over his heart, trying to protect Sirius.

"Get off." He muttered, trying to shove the cat away. But, Crookshanks was holding on tightly, Harry paused for a moment, but seemed to come to the conclusion that he didn't care about the cat.

He raised the wand in his hand. Sirius looked him in the eye, as did Crookshanks. He didn't believe that Harry could kill someone. He didn't think that he could be murderer. Sure enough, Harry stood there for what seemed like an eternity, until, through the silence, as new sound started down the stairs.

Quiet footsteps could be heard. All of a sudden, the girl shrieked at the top of her voice "WE'RE UP HERE! WE'RE UP HERE- SIRIUS BLACK- _QUICK_!"

Sirius jumped and almost knocked Crookshanks off his chest, he knew that he was about to be carried off to the dementors any minute now…

The door burst open and there was… Remus.

He surveyed the room for a fraction of a second before disarming Harry and the girl.

Sirius had several strong urges, one was to run and hug the scarred man that had just arrived, another was to break down in tears at the sight of him, the others were far too complex to try and explain.

"Where is he, Sirius?" Remus said, his voice was full of an emotion Sirius couldn't quite place.

Without taking his eyes off the man, he pointed at the rat, which was in Ron's pocket.

Then Remus started muttering, the way he always used to when he had just figured out some complicated Aritmancy. He came to the correct conclusion. That he and Pettigrew had switched and the rat had become the Potter's secret keeper.

Remus walked slowly over to him, helped him to his feet, and then pulled him into a hug.

This was what we had needed. Nothing else in the world mattered now, he had Remus back, and Remus believed him innocent again. That was everything.

He finally found Moony.

* * *

Okay guys! Thanks for reading this far; though this isn't the end, I was originally going to have another, almost five chapters on this, but I decided to put them in another story all together, so look out for that! Yeah, but thanks for reading this the whole way through, I've found it challenging to write, but enjoyable. Reviews are lovely!


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